The nutritional support offered to critically ill patients is, for most of them, the only mean to fulfill their daily nutritional requirements. However, it has been documented that nutritional support is not enough to cover such needs, due to the presence of caloric debt. We seek to determine the caloric debt and its potential clinical effect in critically ill patients that receive nutritional support at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This is a prospective cohort study. The sample included 191 patients. We assessed caloric debt magnitude and its promoting factors. We also explored clinical outcomes variations related to mortality, infectious complications and ICU stay length. The results showed caloric debt was found in 73,8% (CI 95% = 67-80%) of the assessed patients who received less than 80% of their daily caloric requirements. Main causes were related to enteral nutrition interruption. We found no association between caloric debt and the evaluated outcomes. This evaluation made it possible to establish that the majority of patients, despite receiving nutritional support, are exposed to caloric debt, and it is necessary to generate care strategies to reduce the patients' exposure to this condition.

Sandra Milena Galeano is a nutritionist from the University of Antioquia in Colombia. With a master's degree in epidemiology from the Faculty of Public Health of the same University. She currently works as coordinator of the nutrition and dietetics department of the Hospital San Vicente Fundación in Medellín, Colombia and as a professor at the School of Nutrition and dietetics of the University of Antioquia, also in Colombia.